Jade can make a great houseplant, especially in a classic terracotta pot.
How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Jade Plants
How to Plant Jade Plants
- Choose a wide and sturdy pot with a moderate depth, as jade plants have a tendency to grow top-heavy and fall over.
- Use a soil that will drain thoroughly, as excessive moisture may promote fungal diseases like root rot. An all-purpose potting mix will work, though you will want to mix in additional perlite to improve drainage. A 2:1 ratio of potting mix to perlite is great. Alternatively, use a pre-made succulent or cacti potting mix.
- After planting a jade plant, don’t water it right away. Waiting anywhere from several days to a week before watering lets the roots settle and recover from any damage.
Older jade plants may develop a thick, scaly trunk, giving them their classic tree-like appearance. Photo by trambler58/Shutterstock.
How to Start a Jade Plant from a Leaf or Stem Cutting
As a succulent, jade plants are very easy to start from single leaves or cuttings. Here’s how:
- Remove a leaf or take a stem cutting from a well-established plant. An ideal stem cutting would be 2–3 inches in length and have at least two pairs of leaves. Once you have your leaf or cutting, allow it to sit for several days in a warm place; a callous will form over the cut area, helping to prevent rot and encourage rooting.
- Gather your pot and a well-draining potting mix. Use soil that is slightly moist, but not wet.
- Take the leaf and lay it on top of the soil horizontally, covering the cut end with some of the soil. If you have a stem cutting, place it upright in the soil (prop it up with a few small rocks or toothpicks if it won’t stand on its own).
- Place the pot in a warm place with bright, indirect light. Do not water.
- After a week or two, the leaf or cutting will start sending out roots. A week or so after that, give the plant a gentle poke or tug to see if it has rooted itself in place. If it hasn’t, wait a bit longer, testing it (gently!) every few days.
- Once the plant seems to be firmly rooted, water it deeply and carefully. Use something like a turkey baster to gently water the plant without disturbing the roots too much. Make sure that you don’t just get the surface layer of the soil wet, as you want to encourage the roots to grow downward for water, not towards the surface.
- Let the soil dry out between waterings and keep the plant out of intense direct sunlight until it is well established.
How to Care for Jade Plants
Lighting
- Jade plants should receive at least 6 hours of bright light each day. Young plants should be kept in bright, indirect sunlight; large, well-established jade plants can handle more direct sunlight.
- Kitchens and offices with a south-facing window are typically great spots with just enough light, as are western-facing windows.
- Jade plants that are kept in low light can become leggy and top heavy, which makes them susceptible to damage if they fall over or become unable to support their own branches!
Temperature
- Jade plants grow best at room temperature (65° to 75°F / 18° to 24°C), but prefer slightly cooler temperatures at night and in the winter (down to 55°F / 13°C).
- Note: Jade are not frost tolerant, so if you keep yours outdoors during the summer, be sure to bring it inside once temperatures begin to fall to around 50°F (10°C) in autumn.
- During the winter months, move jade plants away from cold windows and keep them out of drafty areas. If exposed to cold temps, jade plants may drop their leaves.
Watering
- Watering jade plants correctly is very important! Improper watering is the number one issue that most people experience with their jade plants.
- In the spring and summer, when the plant is actively growing, it will require more water than at other times of the year. Water jade plants deeply (meaning that the soil gets sufficiently moistened throughout—not just at the surface) then wait until the soil has mostly dried out before you water it again. This means that you could end up watering it once a week or once a month—it depends entirely on how quickly the soil dries out in the environment where you keep your plant.
- In the fall and winter, the plant may go dormant, causing it to slow or pause growth entirely. During this time, it won’t need much water. Water it even less often than in the spring and summer, allowing the soil to dry out fully between waterings. Large, well-established jades may not need more than one or two waterings throughout their entire dormancy period.
- Try to avoid splashing water on the leaves while watering, as this can expose them to rot in a humid environment.
- Jade plants can be sensitive to salts in tap water, so water with filtered or distilled water if your tap water is not ideal.
- If the plant starts to drop its leaves, if leaves look shriveled, or if brown spots appear on the leaves, it is an indication that the plant needs MORE water.
- If leaves become squishy and waterlogged, the plant is getting TOO MUCH water.
Fertilizing
- Jade plants don’t require high levels of nutrients and should be fed sparingly. Use a diluted mix of a standard liquid houseplant fertilizer or a fertilizer made for cacti and succulents.
Repotting Jade Plants
- Jade plants don’t mind being root bound in a small pot. In fact, keeping them root bound will keep the jade smaller and more manageable.
- Repot young jade plants once every 2 to 3 years to encourage growth. With older jade, repot once every 4 to 5 years or as necessary.
- Transplant in the early spring, just before the growing season begins.
- After repotting, don’t water the plant for a week or so. Wait at least a month before fertilizing so as not to accidentally burn fresh roots.
Some varieties of jade may develop red leaf tips if given sufficient lighting. Photo by Mauricio Acosta Rojas/Shutterstock.
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At what point is a jade plant not considered "young" anymore and can handle direct sunlight? Mine is a year and a half, and I want to move it out of the screened patio to the open patio so it gets more light -- but it would be a lot of direct afternoon sunlight. Is it too new for that still?
That is plenty old enough to handle more light! New plants that are less than a few months old or those that have been freshly planted should be kept out of direct sun for a bit so that their roots can settle in properly.
Your plant should be ready to move into more light, but you will want to do the move slowly. Going from shade to full sun will shock a plant and cause it to lose its leaves or worse. Perhaps move it onto the sunnier patio during a string of overcast days, or keep it on that patio for only a few hours a day, gradually increasing the amount over 10 days or so. Essentially, the plant needs time to acclimatize to its new environment. Also be sure to make sure to adjust your watering habits if the plant is getting more sun; the soil may dry out faster. But always test the soil before watering!
I have a jade that is maybe 10 yrs old. I have started 3 other plants from this one and gave them as gifts. But mine now is so big and can’t seem to hold its weight. All the branches hang down. For years I have tied them up to each other, and to a decorative arch. But it’s become too much weight for that. Others I see seem strong and upright. What can I do to make it stronger ?
I have a giant Jade plant which is about 25 years old and 1.3m in height and extremely heavy. It flowered for the first time 3 years ago and has done so each year since. It is not not looking as good as it did and losing more leaves (drying out and dropping off) and getting a little bit leggy. I'm wondering if it needs a bigger pot and is root bound but at the same time I know they like a smallish pot. Watering is carefully regulated to ensure it is never wet. Does anyone know if I should re-pot it and if the legginess is just due to old age?
I have a 13 year old Jade which is about 2ft tall and very sturdy. It is loosing leaves and many leaves are being eaten. It has a few cobwebs on it and I have removed some very tiny spiders. But what is eating it and how can I stop it?
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